Senate receives progress report on Academic Plan
Implementation of Academic Plan continues
Interim Provost Lisa Ostiguy presented a comprehensive summary of Concordia’s progress on the Academic Plan at the May 17 Senate meeting.
The work of implementing the plan began in earnest last September with three main priorities emerging: investments in the libraries, innovative and dynamic academic programs, and graduate student recruitment.
Ostiguy says these priority areas support the university’s commitment to improving its research strength and in offering students an outstanding experience. Click here to read more.
New PhDs approved
Two new PhD programs, one in English Literature and a second in Geography, Urban and Environmental Studies, were approved by Senate.
The PhD in English Literature will train students to develop research and teaching expertise in literature and media, literary history and historiography, literary form and genre, and theories of literature.
Students will develop period or area specialization covering form, language, media and context, explained Jill Didur, chair of the Department of English.
“The English department has undergone an impressive renewal,” she said. “We’ve developed a well-respected research profile, and the department has a thriving MA in English Literature with both academic and creative strains.”
During her presentation, Didur outlined the goals of the new PhD program: produce graduates who will contribute to the production of knowledge in the discipline of literary study; enrich the social and cultural milieu of Montreal, Quebec and Canada through teaching, publication of research dissemination; and produce graduates who are well positioned to compete for teaching positions in Canada and abroad.
The PhD program in Geography, Urban and Environmental Studies will focus on human interventions in the environment through two streams: environmental change, and human settlement in urban areas and building sustainable communities.
In his presentation, Associate Professor Damon Matthews, Concordia University Research Chair in Climate Science and Sustainability, explained that many students enrolled in the department’s MSc program go on to pursue PhDs in related fields at other schools.
“We see it as absolutely essential that we be able to offer those (MSc) students a PhD option at Concordia,” he said.
Matthews also said the new program will offer an important opportunity for professors in the department to supervise graduate students at the PhD level. “This is absolutely essential for attracting the quality of faculty we want to attract.”
Following the approval of these programs by Senate, the next step is for the Conférence des recteurs et des principaux des universités du Québec (CREPUQ) to undertake an evaluation process, which can take up to a year. This administrative body then submits its recommendation to Quebec’s Ministère de l’Enseignement supérieur, de la Recherche, de la Science et de la Technologie for final approval.
New Graduate Certificate in University Teaching approved
The Graduate Certificate in University Teaching is the first English-language for-credit program in Canada catering exclusively to PhD candidates of advanced standing and including a capstone internship requirement of designing, developing, delivering and evaluating a 3-credit university course.
The certificate offers an opportunity for future tenure-track professors to engage in an interdisciplinary program of study to acquire advanced expertise in university pedagogy through a sustained mentorship with faculty members, teaching fellows as well as teaching and learning consultants.
“I’m very excited about this initiative,” said Paula Wood-Adams, interim dean of the School of Graduate Studies. “I think it’s going to provide an opportunity for some of our students who really would appreciate more experience in teaching.”
Strategic Research Plan approved
Senate approved a five-year Strategic Research Plan, 2013-18 submitted by Graham Carr, vice-president, Research and Graduate Studies.
“We need a strategic research plan at Concordia University in order to be accountable to the Canada Research Chair Secretariat, and to accurately reflect our institutional research environment,” Carr said, adding that the plan is also used increasingly as a reference point by multiple external agencies in the awarding of research funding.
The document captures the vitality of the research and training environment at Concordia. Carr explained that the plan does not refer to specific departments or individual researchers, but instead focuses on overarching themes and clusters of established and emerging strength.
The 2013-18 plan continues to build around the two core research clusters (The Person and Society, and Technology, Industry and the Environment) identified in the 2008-12 plan; however, there are important changes to the unifying themes and research domains identified within those clusters.
For the summary version of the plan, click here.
E-learning principles presented
Months of work for Concordia’s Academic Planning and Priorities Committee culminated in the presentation of a list of eight e-learning principles designed to inform the university’s future direction in the use of new technological tools and platforms for delivering academic content.
“As tools for teaching, e-learning technologies expand instructors’ pedagogical repertoires. Thus, they support instructors’ learning objectives by enabling different forms of interaction, practice, and specialized assistance than is readily available in other modes of teaching,” stated the report on the principles submitted to Senate by the interim provost.
Read more about the e-learning principles.
Presentation by eConcordia
Patrick Devey, chief learning officer for eConcordia, provided Senate with an overview on the process behind creating online courses at the university. The presentation showed how a team of developers from eConcordia, led by an instructional designer, worked closely with each professor to help them realize their vision for an online course.
While there are consistent elements in each course based on tried and true instructional design principles, Devey showed how there is still a lot of room for creativity in presenting the course material.
As well, he showed how there are opportunities for professors to propose different online methods for students to engage with the course material. Devey presented one example of a virtual stock market for an online finance class in which the professor manipulates the prices of stocks while the students simultaneously manage their individual portfolios.
Related links:
• Concordia Senate
• Academic Plan
• Office of Research
• Department of English
• Department of Geography, Planning and Environment
• eConcordia
This article was amended June 4, 2013.